UFC 214: Payout Perspective

August 1, 2017

Welcome to another edition of Payout Perspective. This time we take you to the Honda Center in Anaheim, California for UFC 214.

Jones returns to win back the UFC Light Heavyweight Title

The matchup finally happened and DC looked much better than their initial fight. However, a headkick in the third round undid any momentum Cormier might have had as it was beginning of the end. Maybe the fight was stopped too late as Jones reigned punches and elbows on a hurt Cormier.

Jones gave one of the best post-fight interviews in the Octagon as he praised Cormier and aspired to be more like him. Whether or not you believed him is up to you but for his sake hopefully Jones can keep on the straight and narrow.

Should Cormier have been allowed to leave the Octagon as it was clear he was still not aware of what happened? Should Joe Rogan have interviewed him after? There was a lot made about Cormier crying after the fight but it’s clear that he had waited so long for this fight and wanted to beat Jones dearly. The game plan was working out but one headkick spelled the doom. You have to feel for him and it’s clear, similar to Ronda Rousey after the Holly Holm fight, that they should have left DC alone. The footage of DC wandering around after being KO’d is hard to watch and you have to wonder why his corner was not able to corral him and sit him down.

The big news going forward after this is that Jones called out Brock Lesnar. Lesnar is retired and still must serve out his USADA suspension. News that he had put his name in the active testing pool were not true. So, if this fight were to happen the earliest we might see this is July 2018. In the meantime, it would be nice to see a rematch with Alexander Gustafsson.

Woodley wins but loses

Tyrone Woodley pitched a shutout with Demian Maia as he stuffed each of the 26 takedown attempts of the BJJ specialist which negated Maia’s path to victory. The only problem with this is that Woodley did not supply much offense. While Woodley displayed one of the best defensive fights in recent memory, the name of the game is excitement. Even though Woodley announced he would fight GSP at MSG in November post-fight, Dana White had other thoughts. Due to his performance, White announced GSP-Bisping for that date further distancing the relationship between Woodley and the UFC.

Cyborg wins her title

Let’s face it this division was meant for Cyborg Justino. When a Megan Anderson fight was nixed and Tonya Evinger was her replacement, it gave fans all the more reason to think Justino would take this title. Evinger did her best but could not match Cyborg here. Despite Germain de Randamie winning the title against Holly Holm, Joe Rogan and Dominick Cruz threw shade at GDR for not wanting to face Cyborg. The only fight you would think happens in this division is a fight with Holly Holm.

It was a new record for MMA events at the Honda Center with 16,610 fans for a live gate of $2,448,870.00. With a variety of great UFC events held at the venue, including UFC on Fox 1, this event did the best of all of them.

Bonuses

The bonuses went to Jones, Vokan Oezdemir, Brian Ortega and Renato Moicano. Ortega and Moicano earned the Fight of the Night as Ortego submitted Moicano in the 3rd round with a back and forth fight. Oezdemir vaulted into the Light Heavyweight title picture with a KO of former contender Jimi Manuwa and Jones won with his stoppage of DC.

The Curran-Albu fight could have earned a FOTN but the Ortega sub probably was the deciding factor. Ricardo Lamas also had a potential Performance Bonus based on his stoppage of Jason Knight.

Daniel Cormier earned $1 million and Jon Jones drew $500,000 for the main event. A total of 11 fighters made a reported 6 figures for UFC 214. In comparison (and perhaps unfair), the total reported salaries from PFL Everett was $376,5000. 3 fighters made more than that at UFC 214.

Tyrone Woodley made $500,000 for his title defense against Damian Maia.

Promotion of the Fight

The Summer Kickoff press conference a couple months ago kicked off the run up for this event. Obviously, everyone held their breath that this fight would happen considering the past problems with booking the rematch.

The UFC put on some great video promos for UFC 214 featuring Jones and Cormier.

Notably, the Embedded series focused a lot on Cyborg and less on the Woodley-Maia co-main. Whether it was logistics since Cyborg trains in Southern California or a choice to push Cyborg more than Woodley. Also, no Cerrone antics on the Embedded which was disappointing.

Sponsorships

The sponsors in the Octagon at UFC 214 with Toyo Tires, MetroPCS, Budweiser, Harley Davidson, Monster Energy, UFC Mobile, Dana White’s Contender Series on Fight Pass, Gruntsyle.com, Performance Nutrition and 7-11. Monster Energy had the center of the Octagon. The UFC Mobile game was also featured in the Octagon.

HSS was a new sponsor on the telecasts as it sponsored the fight clock.

Performance Nutrition sponsored the Embedded episodes this time around.

Also, 7-Eleven, which has shared signage with Monster Energy in one of the Octagon posts. It also sported the Big Gulp logo during the broadcasts as well as voiceovers about the convenience store.

Tyron Woodley, Jon Jones and Donald Cerrone were some of the fighters sponsored by Monster Energy.

Metro PCS used Facebook Live and Periscope to promote UFC 214 during the event.

Interesting to note that while they did show Mayweather-McGregor insets during the telecasts, there was nothing on the mat or Octagon promoting the fight.

Odds and ends

Before we talk UFC 214, I went to PFL Everett, Washington Saturday night. On Friday afternoon, I interviewed Carlos Silva and Ray Sefo. During the Yushin Okami fight, I heard a heckler yell out to Okami, “Remember Pearl Harbor,” which is in reference to Okami being Japanese and that’s really about it because it made no real sense except the guy was a racist. He followed up with “Come on, we were all thinking it.” Actually, no I’m sure a lot of people were not thinking racist thoughts because you see a Japanese guy. There were some murmurs and snickers from people around me which is disturbing as well. Unfortunately, it goes to show you that racism still persists and people are not afraid to express it.

The Prelims aired on FXX and despite the fact that it aired on a channel different than its usual spot, I suspect that these fights will do well ratings-wise. No problems with finding the channel as it drew 866,000 viewers and peaked over 1 million during the Sterling-Barao fight.

It’s always awkward to see fighters from other organizations cornering their teammates. Notably at UFC 214 we saw Tito Ortiz in Cyborg’s corner and Ben Askren with Tyrone Woodley.

CSAC prevented Renan Barao from cutting down to 135 pounds and his fight with Aljamain Sterling was at a catchweight of 140. Despite a request, Sterling was not given more money for accepting the catchweight fight.

Also of note Sterling and Al Iaquinta are getting into the real estate business. I feel a reality show on UFC Fight Pass upcoming.

Three interesting notes in MMA journalism at UFC 214. First, the MMAJA had its first meeting. The second was Luke Thomas was shut down by Jon Jones after asking a question. While the question is subject to scrutiny, Jones’ utter refusal and the subsequent applause by fans goes against what a lot of MMA fans want, which is for journalists to ask questions and fighters to answer. Granted, the question was probably not going to reveal anything as Jones is media trained but he still should have answered it.

Joe Rogan came under scrutiny as he decided to interview Daniel Cormier after it was clear he displayed the symptoms of someone that suffered a concussion. Rogan stated that he wanted to give Cormier a chance to talk which is fair. Yet, it seemed like the production crew that saw the footage of Cormier and/or DC’s corner could have prevented Rogan from making this decision. Cormier did not say anything out of order but he could have which would have been awkward for live PPV. Rogan apologized the next day via social media. Some didn’t think the apology was enough but it does come into question the health of a fighter versus entertainment. Certainly, fighters should not be interviewed after a head injury. But, that is balanced with wanting to hear the raw emotions of the fight. Rogan knew he probably shouldn’t interview Cormier (recall the Alistair Overeem interview after he lost to Stipe Miocic post-fight where Overeem thought Miocic tapped), but this was a big moment and the end of a heated, personal rivalry. From the entertainment perspective, fans wanted closure and hear both sides of the story.

The three-man booth of Anik, Cruz and Rogan is still going through growing pains with Cruz and Rogan stepping over each other at times.

There were stars at the fights but forget all of them. The Rock was in the building

This event seemed less-hyped than UFC 182 which was sold solely on Cormier-Jones. Yet, the depth of this card would seem to help with the UFC casual fan. The return of Jon Jones probably helped with last-minute buys as folks probably wanted to make sure that he would be fighting. Will it surpass 1 million buys? With over 2 million google searches it’s a possibility. But, I think this event lands somewhere around UFC 182 and expect that it does the best for 2017 with 800,000 buys.